She’s 14 and already saving for retirement
Violet Ferrier is 14 years old and she’s a Deferred Compensation Program (DCP) customer. You might want to read that again; it’s not a typo. This teenager is serious about her retirement savings.
When Violet sent her paperwork to DRS, the office assistant was stymied. She thought there must be a mistake. Surely, there are no 14 year olds who are signing up for DCP. That’s so young! Plus, the DRS system doesn’t allow enrollment for anyone under 16. So, the paperwork was returned with a note that asked for Violet’s correct age.
Violet wrote back: Good afternoon, I was born in 2010. I am 14. (Cc’d is my father in case you have other questions.)
Well now.
The office assistant sought the help of other team members to see what could be done, if anything. The Defined Contribution Plan Manager stepped in. “Turns out, we could fix this,” she says. “I got involved to request system reprogramming to lower the acceptable age, and compliance checking to make sure it would work. And now we can allow anyone 14 and over to join DCP!”
The dad match
Who is Violet and why would she be interested in joining DCP at such young age? There’s so much time between 14 and 65. Why wouldn’t she just enjoy herself now and worry about retirement later? Like, much later.
“My dad made me,” says Violet, who has a quick sense of humor.
“Joking aside, even though my job doesn’t have a match program for retirement for minors, my dad is offering one to me: a ‘dad match’ so that I have an incentive to participate,” she says. “He helped me pick DCP over the school district 403(b) plan because: 1. The website https://403bwise.org/ showed that the 403(b) options, (besides one) aren’t highly recommended. And 2. It seemed easier to enroll in DCP.”
There’s no doubt Violet knows her stuff.
Her dad has been talking to her about retirement even before she started work at the Puyallup School District as a part-time swim instructor. He has a fun philosophy about money that he’s teaching her: save some, give some and spend some.
“The dad match is part of his ‘save some.’ I’m also working on him to provide the dad match to the ‘give some’ category,” she says. “A girl can always try to negotiate her way into getting what she wants.”
Violet, like many teenagers, lives at home with her mom, dad and sister. When she’s not studying, she enjoys dance, rapping and archery. “My dad doesn’t let me have any ‘real pets,’ but I have a fish. He keeps telling me that I have a sister for a pet, and he thinks he is funny, but he isn’t.”
More about fish later.
The dad behind the dad match
Cole Ferrier is Violet’s dad and an IT professional who works as a public servant. He says his daughter is a brilliant young woman who is capable of anything when she sets her mind to it. This much is delightfully obvious.
Violet had been talking to him about getting a job to earn a bit more spending money. The Puyallup School District sent out a flyer about becoming a swim instructor at their pool, and he forwarded it to her and asked if she was interested in going to the information night.
“Previously, we had joked together about her teaching swimming lessons because she had taken thousands of hours of swimming lessons at the Fife Pool and the Sumner YMCA, so it seemed like a good fit,” Cole says.
So many questions about retirement
Violet watched her grandparents make transitions from work to retirement and it led to questions: How does it work? What is possible? The questions then led to talks about retirement, and as a seasoned public servant, and a life-long learner, her dad had some great answers.
He was a DCP participant while at the University of Washington. “The UW has a phenomenal (low fee, good investment options) 403(b) plan. One of the benefits of being a public service worker in Washington is that not only can you participate in your local employers 403(b), but you have access to WA DCP 457(b). So, I participated in both,” Cole says.
In the past five years, he’s been focused on learning more about financial planning. “Most recently, I was awarded a Master of Science in Financial Planning from The American College of Financial Services. Learning and applying finance ‘stuff’ is a hobby of mine.”
Oh, and speaking of fish … Violet comes from a family of fishermen. “That is one activity that we really enjoy doing together,” says Cole. He adds that they both like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings “universes,” and cooking together.
College and life after retirement
Interestingly, Violet thinks of college as far off in the future, and she wonders if a lot of things could change in that time. “I’m not sure if I’m college bound, but my dad just told me, ‘Wrong answer,’ so I think we have an expectations mismatch,” she says. Never mind all that; her aspirations are to either be a diagnostic specialist or in a girl band that makes their own music.
And what will she do when she retires someday? “Sleep and write music.”
More about DCP
If you haven’t heard about the Deferred Compensation Program (DCP) by now, you’re probably new here. The intro to DCP webpage and several episodes of the Fund Your Future with DRS podcast, are great resources to help you get started. There’s also a quick and convenient DCP digital enrollment form.
Violet would probably tell you it’s easy to join and to start early.
Note: You must work for an eligible employer to enroll in the Deferred Compensation Program (DCP). Violet is a public sector employee and that’s what makes her eligible.
